Grain-door.



NOQ 806,209. I PATENTED DEC. 5, 1905. T. 0. THOMAS.

GRAIN DOOR. APPLICATION TILED AUG.27,1904.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

21 war/M2 PATENTED DEC. 5, 1905.

T. G. THOMAS.

GRAIN DOOR.

APPLICATION FILED AUG.2.7,19-04.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

,. UNITED m11Esf PATENT OFFICE.

THOMAS o; r'HoMAs, OF PEORIA, ILLTNQIS, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF To DANIAL R. SHEEN,

' GRAIN- Specification of Letters Patent.

o rEoRI ILLlNOIS.

Patented Dec. 5, 1905.

Application filed August 2'7, 1904- Serial No. 222,524.

I which will enable others skilled in theart to which it 'appertains to make and use the same. v

This invention pertains to improvements in doors for railway-cars:

The primary object of this invention 'isto' provide a door for railway-cars that will close into the doorway from without and that will open outwardly from the wall of the car, so

that the lading when resting or bearing against said door will not prevent it being easily opened, I e

Another object of this invention is to provide a door that will serve 'adouble purpose namely, that will serve as a grain-door and at the same time serveas an outer door to protect the contents of the carfrom the weather and marauders. p Another object of the invention is to 'pro- 1 vide a door that may be carried on the wall of the car within the doorway when closed and moved along the-wall away from the' doorway then not inuse.

Another obj ect' of theinvention is to pro- 5 vide a door that is attached to the car and not in-danger of being lost or carried away.

Another object of the invention is to provide a door so arranged that the act of opening the door also places it out of the way and where it will safely ride at the side ofthe car until itsuse is again demanded.

In addition to the above there are various other points of advantage gained by this invention, one of which is the addition it afiords to the permanent equipment of railway-cars ble, such doors having been applied in various forms but almost complete failure has resultedfrom their use. Such doors have so 'many disadvantages that they of necessity have been abandoned; The last resort in the use .of what hasbeen called a graindoor provides that cheap doors shall be constructed and shipped to all points where grain in the bulk is loaded into cars, and each time a car is to be laden'its doorways are closed with these cheap doors. When the car is'to be unloaded, the door is broken down, removed, and taken away for kindlingwood, and thus the cars go their Wayhither and thither unequipped with doors, although.

the cost of a door is expendedaevery time a car is loaded. It will be seen that this-invention in closing the door preparatory to loading the car seats the door snugly, firmly, and

securely in the doorway, and it is retainedthere, leaving the upper portion of the doorway open to receive the load, whether it be grain in the bulk, vegetables, brick, coal, or ear-corn, and when loaded the upper part of the doorway is closed and the whole locked and sealed. It will furthermore be seen that when it is desirable to unload the car after theseal is broken and the door unlocked said door can be movediupon its bearings outwardly, no matter how heavily the .lading may press against it, although it may be sustaining coal or brick within the car.

As the door is withdrawn from the doorway it is transferred to the frame that carries it with but very little effort, and hang- 'its'door has been pushed up in front of the doorway means is provided for securing the foot of the door firmly to the car. Also when the door has been transferred fromthe frame to the doorway and its upper portion closed means are employed to hold the latter securely in its place.

I The lower portion of the door is adapted to the doorway and may be transferred with case from said doorway to itsframe, and vice versa, with perfect ease and precision.

Having pointed out the objectofthe in- A vention and some of the advantages therein and the gain to be derived from it, I shall proceed to the specification, aided 'by the 'ac-' compan ying drawings, in which- Y x Figure 1 is a perspective view of a portion of the side of a car, showing my improved door placed thereon; Fi'gQZis a vertical end section 'mountedon the frame, which is supsection of the car, showing the door in crosstending considerably to one side of the said opening, as shown. The door-opening is of two dimensions, the larger of the two designed to receive the door and the other being the jamb against which the door rests when in its closed position, the said jamb being represented by C. Hung from the track B by means of the ordinary hangers D and rollers E is an open frame F, preferably of metal, although wood can be made to answer, if desired. Said frame is designed to run along the track and cover the opening of the doorway, as will be presently understood.

At G in four places is secured a boxing carrying a crank-arm I-I, (shown in Fig. 3,) and inside the frame is located the door which serves to close the door-opening, as shown in Fig. 2. This door is composed of two sections I and J, hinged together at K. The section I carries at four places a boxing L, similar to G just described, said boxing being in the vicinity of G, as shown, and receiving the ends of the crank-arms described. By this means it will be seen that the said door I J is carried pivotally on the frame F by means of the cranks, the latter being so placed that the door is permitted to swing toward and away from the car, but in a vertical plane at all times.

It is well known to grain men and those about railway-cars and elevators that doors for closing cars must be quite simple and light and easily looked and unlocked, since a man handling cars and grain will take no time or patience to properly open one. If the door cannot be easily manipulated, he will use a crowbar or other implement and pry it open and end in breaking it to pieces and rendering it unfit for further use. Having this in mind, I have devised the door herein described, and the particular purpose thereof is to operate it by pushing it toward the car or drawing it away therefrom. In this way it can be readily set in place or with drawn with the least effort. For this purpose the door is mounted by means of the said cranks H, which permit it to operate as described. The bottom edge of the door is beveled, as shown in Fig. 2, and a socket of the same form is created by cutting away the floor of the car, as at M, so that the door will sit therein and make a tight joint, an open ing N being left the full width of the door to permit dirt and obstacles of one kind or an- 'pushed along the track.

other filling in beneath the door and preven ting it closing. I provide at O a pair of handles by which the door may be readily taken hold of.

In Fig. 1 the door is shown open and If it is desired to close said door, the frame F is pushed along the track until it meets the stops P, secured in the side of the car. This brings the door just opposite the door-openin g, and by grasping the handles 0 the door is now pushed toward the openin swinging meanwhile upon the cranks and ropped in place in the said socket at M. This action places the door in. a position to rest of its own weight in the closed position and perfectly vertical by rea son of the cranks.

The upper portion J of the door is designed. to rise and fall relatively to the portion I, and this is permitted by the hinges K referred to, which are constructed as shown in Fig. 5, the

upper portion being slotted at K in order to move up and down on the pivot-pin K of said hinge. When raised, as shown in Figs. 1 and 5, the upper door portion J can be readily opened outward, as shown in Fig. 1 referred to; but when placed in a vertical position, as shown in Fig. 5, and dropped to the position shown in broken lines the slotted hinge-section forms a lock with the lower portion I and prevents the door being opened. At the top of the said door-section J is a spring-latch Q, operated by a cord or wire R from the ground. This latch is adapted to engage a socket at S in the doorway, acting as a keeper for said latch when the door portion J is closed. In order to form a strong lock, I provide at T a bar hinged to the section J above the line of its hinges, while at U U are two staples, one of which is secured in the upper section and the other in the lower one. A slot V in two places in the said bar T receives the staples when the door is closed, and pins may be passed through the staples to lock the bar in a rigid position, thus preventing the door being opened when said pins are locked with the usual seal. In lieu of this a padlock could be placed in each staple.

To open the door, the latch Q is drawn down by means of the wire R, the section, J raised to liberate the hinges, and then by grasping the handles 0 the section I is raised out of its socket, raised on its cranks, and drawn forward and permitted to rest on a stop V, secured to the frame F, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. The upper section is allowed to hang down over the lower one, so that it is entirely out of the way of the car. In fact, there is nothing extends beyond the plane of the frame F at the back, so that said frame can be readily slid along its track without hindrance. As constructed in the drawings, the upper section J is given suflicient play at the top within the opening to allow it to be .IIS

raised after pulling down the latch Q, so that the said section can'free its hinges for the pur oses described.

andles may be placed upon the upper door-section, if desired, and other changes within the scope of the-invention may be made. For instance, the e uivalents of the cranks H may be used, 'an more or less of them may be employed than shown. Likewise some other form of locking arrangement for the upper section may be used, as I do not wish to confine myself to any particular dro ped into it by the crank-motion described an shown.

I desire to state that it is not absolutely necessary that the door I J should move in a vertical plane; but it must come to a vertical position when seatin in the doorway. It

will be seen that the cor is firmly locked in place by means of the bevel at Mat the floor of the car and by means of the latch Q, aided by the bar vT, at the hinge-line. The lower half of the door, however, will when placed in the doorway serve to lock itself by resting in the socket M, being held thereby from outward movement due from pressure of freight within the car. When thus positioned, the cranks H then prevent theframe from swingingoutward. The door can in this way be used for freighting where but one-half of the door is necessary, thus giving added advanta es.

claim I 1. In a grain-door the combination of a frame larger than the doorway of the car, a track secured at the side of the car above the doorway, the said frame slidably hung therefrom, a lower door-section on the frame, a series of cranked members each having a horizontal bearing at one end on the said door-section, the opposite extremities of the cranks'also having a horizontal bearing on the suspended frame for carrying the door through said framein the manner described,

the bottom edge of the section being beveled as shown, there being a socket in the car-v floorfor receiving the said door, thelatter seating and closing by its own weight after being carried through the frame, an upper door-section, hinges for connecting said upper and lower section, one ofthe portions of each hinge being slotted to permit movement of the upper section on the lower in a vertical direction at the time and for the pur-.- poses described, and means for locking both sections together and preventing'movement of the door from the doorway while thus locked. v

2. In a grain-door, a track above the doorable thereupon for the pur oses set forth, a

journaled on the door-section and on the frame for-carrying said section when swung inward through the frame to its limit of movement to rest in the doorway, there being a socket in the floor for receiving the section, a stop on the outside of the frame for receiving the lower edge of the section when swung outward, an u per section hinged to the lower and adapte to have vertical move ment therein as set forth, and locking means between the two sections .forlocking them together in one plane within thedoorway as set forth. I

3. In a grain-door, a track above the doorway, a frame suspended therefrom and slidable thereon, a'lower half-door section, horizontal cranked members for permitting the said sections to swing in a vertical are through the frame, an upper half-door section hinged to the lower one and adapted to hang therefrom, said lower section adapted to seat in the doorway, there being a socket for receiving it, the socket and the cranked members locking the section in place as described.

4;. In a grain-door, a track above the doorway of the car, aframe hung therefrom and slidable thereon, a lower door-section, cranks for supporting the door-section on saidframe and for carrying the said sections in a vertical-arc, when moved through the frame, there being a socket in the floor of the car at the doorway, the lower edge of the section resting in said socket when closed and forming thereby .a' lock as described the cranks also holding the frame from movement for the purposes set forth.

way of the car, a frame suspended therefrom and adapted to travel along the same, a lower door-section, crank, members havin horizontalbearin s on the door-section an the frame as set orth for permitting movement ofthe section in'the manner described, an upper door-section, slotted hinges connecting the two sections, said hinges perniitting the upper section to hang down against the lower one, and also permitting separation of the sections when lying in one plane for thepurposes set forth, means for ocking the sections together at the juncture of the two after the lower section has been placed within the doorway there being a socket in the floor of the car for receiving the said lower-section.

- lower section, cranked mem ers horizontally 4 IIO In testimony whereof I aflix my signature I in presence of two witnesses.

THOMAS C. THOMAS.

Witnesses: U I v FRANK T. MILL R, .L. M. THURLOW. 

